A common type of self-service terminal is an automated teller machine (ATM). An ATM is a networked computing device that includes a plurality of interconnected modules for performing functions relating to customer transactions and machine maintenance. Many of these modules include a processor programmed to perform functions associated with that module, and to track state of health information about that module.
A central processing core typically executes a platform and an application. The platform (which includes an operating system) manages the modules in the ATM, and translates industry-standard commands (for example, in CEN/XFS format) from the application to specific commands for each module. The application conveys appropriate industry-standard commands to the platform to provide customer transactions, and also to provide management facilities for service personnel (such as printer paper replenishers, banknote replenishers or technicians).
A remote management system typically manages a network of ATMs, each ATM providing status information to the management system asynchronously (in the event of a failure being detected) or in response to a request for information from the remote management system.
The remote management system typically dispatches service personnel in the event of a failure being detected at an ATM, and provides the service personnel with an indication of the type of failure that was detected. However, this information may be out-of-date by the time it is received by the service personnel, and it may also not contain the full information provided by the ATM because the data received by the remote management system is typically transformed into a new format for conveying to the service personnel.
It would be advantageous if the service personnel could obtain up-to-date information about errors in an ATM, and also at least as much information as the ATM provided to the remote management system. This would avoid service personnel making an unnecessary site visit to an ATM that rectified itself subsequent to sending a fault message to the remote management system. By being able to check the more detailed ATM status information, a service person would be able to obtain any required part to fix a problem with an ATM prior to a site visit.